Chapter 570: The Pros and Cons of Ascension
Chapter 570: The Pros and Cons of Ascension
"Enemy attack!"
"Free-fire energy cannons!"
"Oh no, this is the pressure of a demigod! Hurry, activate the fear ward array!" In Sky City's B4 Control Room, a third-tier Crystal Apex Mage glanced at the energy intensity on the dashboard and immediately turned pale.
A demigod's pressure alone could make most people lose their will to fight.
"The enemy's signature matches that of a plague eldritch deity!" another Crystalized Wizard yelled.
"Activate the shadow ward array immediately!"
Orders were issued from the command center, and almost all of Sky City's combat machinery was mobilized.
However, if someone familiar were present, they would notice that two key figures—Helm and Moria, both metal-element Dawn Wizards—were not in the control room.
Additionally, although Sky City had activated many of its defense and combat systems, its biggest problem was that the primary energy shield could not be activated due to incomplete repairs. Only secondary ward arrays and energy cannons could be used.
It was uncertain how much protection these would offer against a demigod.
As Erebos's massive form landed heavily on Sky City's surface, Mechanical Land Birds and raptor combat machines were crushed into pulp, and the thick metal floor showed clear signs of indentation.
"Such insignificant insects!" Erebos casually crushed a mechanical octopus several dozen meters tall into scrap, sneering.
More terrifying was the thick gray fog that spontaneously enveloped him. Wherever it spread, battle personnel died instantly, a characteristic of his divine body akin to a wizard's 'Plague Cloud.'
Even mechanical constructs were visibly corroding and rusting.
It was clear that a demigod incarnation was far more powerful than an epic-level incarnation.
"Boom!"
With a single punch, he shattered the thick metal surface and tore it apart with his hands.
Erebos knew that while these were mere insects that posed no threat to him, humans still had formidable beings. He needed to act quickly.
Moreover, even a demigod incarnation found it difficult to penetrate the multi-layered structure of Sky City with just plague and poison, so he had to cause significant damage first.
As he attacked, he cautiously observed his surroundings, not daring to unleash his full power.
Once he broke into the second level, Erebos was nearly certain that the human Full Moon Wizard Rayne, whom he feared, would not arrive soon.
"Since that's the case, you will all die!" Erebos relaxed and began to attack with full force.
Suddenly, he sensed that the Plague Cloud seeping below was being blocked by a higher-level blue energy.
"Erebos, you are still as repulsive!"
"Enjoying ambushes and plagues!"
A clear female voice, one Erebos knew all too well but hadn't heard in a long time, echoed.
Blue light spread around, and a valiant female figure, wearing a rooster-crested helmet, slowly appeared.
"You—You're Matilda!"
"You didn't die!"
Erebos's expression was one of shock, and his movements involuntarily paused.
But he quickly regained his composure.
After swiftly assessing Matilda, he relaxed, realizing she was only a demigod incarnation, not her true form.
"Matilda, you alone can't hold me here."
"And haven't you heard the saying?"
"Destroying is easier than building!"
Erebos chuckled and prepared to attack again.
Suddenly, two red energy beams struck from either side, and two massive, fierce mechanical dread dragons, each over a hundred meters tall, emerged from the metal layer below.
These were the restored kings of mechanical dread dragons, once commanders in the ancient goblin armies.
Helm and Moria, two metal-element Dawn Wizards, along with the kings of mechanical dread dragons, though slightly below demigod level, could still pose a significant threat to Erebos.
"Erebos, it seems you'll have to take back your words."
Matilda sneered, materializing an energy spear in her hand and charging forward.
Within seconds, Erebos lost interest in the fight. He knew the ambush plan had failed.
He needed to escape quickly, or Rayne would arrive.
Suddenly, he froze!
A human figure appeared in the sky above, none other than Rayne, whom he feared the most.
"How—How is this possible?!" Erebos's eyes widened in shock.
The attack had started less than thirty seconds ago.
He couldn't believe that Lune the Hunter and Hela hadn't even managed to delay him that long.
"Hehe, you mean those few?" Rayne smiled, spreading his hands to reveal six small, colorful divine shards.
Erebos's expression changed dramatically, and his massive body trembled!
"Swish!"
He quickly fled toward the other side of the sky.
"Think you can escape?" Rayne raised the Chrono Key Replica and pointed it at Erebos.
One!
Two!
Three!
As three glittering grains turned to white mist in the Chrono Key Replica, Erebos's enormous body was forced to fly back.
"Matilda, you actually gave your artifact to this human!"
"Damn it!"
"Is this human your bastard child?!"
"Whore!"
"You talk too much." Rayne's High-Frequency Blade sliced through the air, and Erebos, who had been spewing curses, froze mid-sentence.
His massive divine body began to dissipate into black and gray points, leaving behind a much larger divine shard, the size of an infant's head, floating in the air.
As Rayne reached out, the divine shard fell into his hand.
Seeing how easily Rayne had killed Erebos's demigod incarnation, the goddess Matilda couldn't help but look at Rayne with renewed interest.
Half an hour later.
At the lowest level of the floating layer.
"This vile demonavatar can only be restrained for less than two weeks. King Rayne, do you plan to continue using the Chrono Key Replica to extend the restraint?"
The goddess Matilda stood beside the colored vortex and turned to Rayne.
Rayne was momentarily at a loss for words, as his plan was quite shocking to everyone.
"King Rayne, my advice is to absorb faith and become a demigod with a longer lifespan."
"Hmm?" Rayne was slightly surprised. Due to his rapid ascension, he hadn't thoroughly understood the differences between a Full Moon Wizard and a demigod.
From Matilda's tone, it was clear that there were significant differences, such as lifespan.
"Wait, you didn't know?" Now it was Matilda's turn to be surprised.
However, she didn’t keep Rayne in suspense but instead gave him a detailed explanation of the differences.
"If you choose to absorb faith, you will establish a bond of faith with your believers. Your body will also transform into a divine form, and your wizardry talents will convert into specific divine powers."
After the goddess Matilda’s detailed explanation, Rayne’s expression turned to one of realization!
It turned out that by choosing the path of faith and ascending to demigod status, accepting the faith of the people would ignite the divine flame, transforming his body into a divine form and granting him a long lifespan.
On the other hand, wizards chose to channel power into themselves, but their lifespans were more limited.
At least, in terms of lifespan, fifth and sixth-level wizards were far inferior to deities.
However, beyond that point, the paths converged.
"But if you choose the path of faith, ultimately, you will be bound by that faith and unable to leave this world. Once you leave for the Wizarding World, your divine form will collapse."
The goddess Matilda then gave Rayne a deep look and added, "Unable to leave?"
Rayne’s expression changed, and his brows furrowed.
"May I ask, why did you choose to become a deity back then?" After a moment, Rayne looked up and asked.
"At the time, if I hadn’t done so, this world might have been utterly destroyed. All humans would have been enslaved or even consumed", Matilda said, her face tinged with reminiscence.
Rayne could hear the tinge of regret in her voice.
No wonder!
There were so few native beings who chose the divine path after becoming Full Moon Wizards.
However, this only made Rayne more admiring of the Monsoon and Sea Goddess before him.
She must have chosen this path to counter the Vile Demon and the eldritch deity, relying on the Chrono Key Shard to fight.
Using such an artifact required a significant amount of lifespan, so she had to absorb faith and ignite the divine flame.
"Thank you for your advice. I will consider it seriously", Rayne bowed slightly in gratitude to the goddess.
Even though he admired her, Rayne wouldn’t reveal that he could absorb Divine Shards rapidly, as it was something he couldn’t explain.
"Indeed, King Rayne, even with the Divine Shards you’ve obtained, your strength will significantly increase within a decade."
"But don’t forget the significant impact of the energy tides. They will fluctuate more intensely than you can imagine, so..." Matilda paused here.
"I understand", Rayne nodded.
In general, even a Full Moon Wizard would need to be extremely cautious when absorbing Divine Shards. It usually took several years to fully absorb a small Divine Shard, and the absorption process was quite wasteful.
Meanwhile.
In the Imperial Capital of Temeril.
Inside the Cologne Cathedral, shrouded in malevolent aura.
Suddenly, a charred, half-burnt husk cracked open, and an incredibly dense black malevolent aura began to seep out, coalescing into a dark, ink-like mist in the air.
The black mist churned, and suddenly, a black scythe, resembling the forelimb of a mantis, pierced out. Another one followed shortly after!
Within seconds, over a dozen black scythes emerged, arranged symmetrically like ribs. A black heart materialized out of nowhere, pulsating violently!
"Thump! Thump! Thump!"
With each pulse, the black body became denser and more solid!
But the effects seemed to extend beyond that, as even in the lowest level of Sky City, the Vile Demon's mutilated remains, which had been restrained by the Chrono Key Shard, suddenly trembled in response to the black heart's rhythm.
At this moment, the Vile Demon’s body within the Cologne Cathedral seemed to sense something. Strands of malevolent aura seeped into the ground, quietly leaving its original position.
An hour later.
In the study of Rose Villa.
"Let’s absorb these small Divine Shards first."
Rayne crushed six small Divine Shards in his hand, and in the next instant, six colored mists dispersed.
At the same time, a system prompt sounded:
【Ding! Detected Divine Shards that can enhance psi energy fission. Would you like to accelerate absorption? (Note: System absorption can remove impurities and complete the process instantly.)】
Rayne naturally chose "Yes!"
Instantly, he heard a series of eldritch deities’ screams and curses.
But to Rayne, these were like dirges sung by the vanquished, mere impotent rage that only served to highlight his victory.
After the system’s purification, six pure energy streams rushed from Rayne’s arms to his mind, like rivers flowing into the sea.
In Rayne’s mental sea, the pulsating psi energy fission core grew even stronger.
A few seconds later, after the absorption was complete, Rayne checked his attribute panel:
Mental: 425 (Fission 79%)
"Just 79%?"
Rayne had a nagging feeling!
Judging by this progress, even after absorbing the medium-sized Divine Shard from Erebos, he would likely still fall short of advancing to the sixth-level wizard, Solar Sovereign.
"From 49% to 79%, that’s a significant increase."
"But that’s from six small Divine Shards. On average, one small Divine Shard only increases it by 5%!" Rayne frowned.
"Clearly, the difficulty of advancing in the later stages of Full Moon Wizard is more than double that of the earlier stages."
"It makes sense. I haven’t heard of anyone advancing to Solar Sovereign in nearly ten thousand years. If it were that easy, someone like Emperor Atlas would have done it long ago."
After some thought, Rayne decided to absorb the last Divine Shard without further ado.
A few seconds later.
Looking at the somewhat glaring ‘93%’ on his attribute panel, Rayne couldn’t help but sigh.
"Sure enough! Even after absorbing a medium-sized Divine Shard, I still can’t advance to the sixth-level wizard."
"This means I still can’t use the true artifact, the Chrono Key."
"However, after this battle, the eldritch deities will likely not dare to show themselves for a while. I can’t rely on them anymore."
At this moment, the Communication Mark on Rayne’s chest flickered.
With a light tap, Olena’s voice came through:
"Lord Iron Throne, Grand Astrologer Darian and several other grand astrologists have discovered Graham’s whereabouts on the newly restored astrologist platform. He seems to be hiding in the Fallen Hammer Mountains."
Although Olena was only a Third-Rank Apprentice, as Rayne’s personal secretary, she had a special communication device from Sky City for daily communication.
"Good! Please convey my greetings to Darian and the other astrologists. I’ll head to the Fallen Hammer Mountains immediately."
Rayne was quite pleased. Finally, he had found him.
He hoped that this time, Graham could summon the spider eldritch deity Nayubrekkan again. If so, he could obtain another Divine Shard, which would likely allow him to break through.
After a moment’s thought, Rayne vanished from the study.
(End of Chapter)
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